Guilfordbeekeepers.org

I didn't see where these bees came from but I came out about 5:00pm on 11/7/20 to see a small cloud of bees in the air. They gathered on an eggplant in what is left of my summer vegetable garden. To call the cluster baseball sized would be a little bit generous. I used old brood comb to attract a good number of bees off the plant and was able to see a small, unmarked queen that bees were attentive to. I put them in a nuc and put a feeder of 1:1 on them. There are not enough bees to make it worthwhile to disrupt and combine into another hive, so I will play with them and see how long I can keep them going. . . if they stay and if the queen starts laying.

Is this what you have called suicide swarms in the past?

Yes. These show up anywhere from late August into October. They are not reproductive swarms, but are probably leaving their original location because of something bad (starvation, mite load, SHB, tree location damage). Some settle in and start functioning, others never do.

I did a quick look in the nuc this afternoon and saw very few bees and no sign of the queen. At least I gave them a shot at making it.

It comes to mind how different beekeeping is in reality as compared to what I thought it would be when starting.